n. an antihypertensive drug (trade name Apresoline) that dilates blood vessels; used (often with a diuretic) to treat hypertension and congestive heart failure

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

hydr(o)- + (phth)al(ic acid) + azine.

Examples

Certain drugs, notably hydralazine, which is used to treat hypertension, and procainamide, which is used to treat irregular heartbeat, can trigger lupus attacks in people who have no history of the disease.

African-Americans seem to benefit less than Caucasians from ACE inhibitors, but respond better to a combination of two older drugs -- hydralazine and nitroglycerin -- that are now being marketed as a single pill under the name BiDil.

Duster, president of the American Sociological Association, writes that research on isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine (BiDil), produced by NitroMed, incorrectly links a biological idea of race to heart disease and that socioeconomic factors better explain susceptibility to heart disease.